Richard Grenell: Intelligence community feels immediate impact of Trump’s diplomatic ‘disruptor’

Washington CNN — Richard Grenell, the newly installed acting director of American spy agencies and loyalist to President Donald Trump, began his temporary tenure by moving aggressively to put his stamp on the intelligence community that Trump has repeatedly attacked. Donald Trump Jr. suggested to CNN on Thursday that Grenell’s commitment to the President was a factor in his selection and said he looks forward to having “an honest dealer” leading the intelligence community. “The President wants a disruptor, he’s getting a disruptor,” a former administration official said in describing Grenell, one of the US’ few ambassadors who identify as gay. ‘Caustic rhetoric’ “Because of his caustic rhetoric and his tendency to make arguments public, Grenell has basically been frozen out of access to the senior levels of the German government,” this former official said. “That goes for political leaders and big German companies.” Experiences like Volkswagen’s coupled with Grenell’s twitchy Twitter trigger finger “have reduced him in Germany to a figure who acts on social media and with a few sympathetic journalists but who, for the most part, is … not really influencing what is happening in how Germany sets its policies and implements.” ‘Suspicion’ Grenell’s dual-hatted role as spy chief and ambassador to Berlin is not going to make him any more effective, said Brett Bruen, a former foreign service officer who’s the president of Global Situation Room, a consulting firm.